Category Archives: Case Files of Justis Fearsson

As writers we should be deliberate in choosing the proper voice for each story. We shouldn’t choose third person simply because the market might prefer it, as once it did, nor should we automatically gravitate toward first person just because that voice is in vogue right now. Rather, we need to consider several factors in choosing the right POV voice and, for that matter, the correct point of view character.

Lucienne Diver is not only a wonderful writer, she is also a fantastic agent, and I should know, because she has represented me for about fifteen years now. I am at her blog today with a post about point of view, and its uses as a narrative tool. Using the examples of Dead Man’s Reach, the fourth Thieftaker novel, which came out a couple of weeks ago, and His Father’s Eyes, the second volume in the Case Files of Justis Fearsson, I discuss how I choose the correct voice for a novel. You can read the post here; I hope you find it helpful.

Surely there is room in this genre for quiet stories and loud ones, for the old-fashioned and the new-and-weird, for space opera and epic fantasy, for military SF and urban fantasy, for writers of all races, religions, sexual orientations, and gender identities. If you don’t want to read all of these stories, if you don’t want to follow all of these writers, you don’t have to. No one is forcing anyone to do anything.

But it is one thing to choose. It is something else entirely to dismiss. It is time that we as a community recognize the difference.

And later this afternoon, I will be back at Bitten By Books for a launch party celebrating yesterday’s release. We are giving away a $40.00 gift card to some lucky reader, and right now you can increase your chances of winning by RSVPing for the event here.

First, I am back visiting again with Faith Hunter, and this time Jay Fearsson, the hero of my series is interviewed by Jane Yellowrock, the kickass heroine of Faith’s New York Times bestselling series. Not only that, but fans of her books should know that Beast makes an appearance as interviewer as well. You can find the interview here. I guarantee you’ll enjoy it.

I am also back at the Magical Words blog site, with a post about the new book and all that it means to me. This was a difficult and cathartic book for me to write, and the post touches on why. You can find it here.

“In the end, I return again to the point I made in my previous post. We are writers, blessed with the ability and opportunity to craft stories for a living. We should not be fighting over award ballots. I consider many of the people on both sides of this fight friends and respected colleagues. I like them. I like their work. I know from talking to them that they have a lot more in common with one another than this brouhaha would suggest. It is time for all of us to put away our knives, and take up our pens once more.”

Choosing three books that changed my life, even if it’s just for the purposes of a blog tour, is a little like choosing “Three Meals That Helped me Grow Big and Strong.” Sort of. Actually, no one would ever accuse of me of being either big or strong. But you get the idea.

“We are, in many respects, the most egotistical people in the world. I mean it; it takes some serious sense of self to be able to say, “I just made up a story, and it’s so fucking good that you should pony up some money to read it. Not only that, but it’s around 500 pages long, but that’s okay, because reading it is the best use of your time I can think of.” Wow. That takes serious nerve. And I should know, because I’ve done it, like, eighteen times.

And yet for all that ego demanded by our profession, we writers are remarkably fragile creatures, subject to the dreaded “impostor syndrome,” and other maladies of mind and spirit.”

Interested in seeing how characters might wreak their revenge on the writer who creates them? Then have I got a post for you! The 2015 Summer-of-Two-Releases Virtual Tour makes several stops today, including one at the SciFiChick.com, where I interview Ethan Kaille and Justis Fearsson, the lead characters from the Thieftaker Chronicles and The Case Files of Justis Fearsson. The two of them make it clear to me that they’re not entirely satisfied with how I’ve been running their lives. You can find the post here.

The second post, which was originally supposed to go up yesterday (things don’t always go as they’re supposed to on these virtual tours) can be found at All Things Urban Fantasy. It describes the political transformation of Ethan Kaille through the books of the Thieftaker Chronicles. Ethan started as a Loyalist, an opponent of Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty, something that bothered some of my readers. But his political evolution is a central theme in the series. You can read more about it here.

I am also at the blog of my friend and fellow writer, Bradley Beaulieu. Brad, the author of Twelves Kings in Sharakhai and The Winds of Khalokovo, is a terrific writer in his own right, and has been kind enough to interview for the blog tour. You can find the interview here.

Finally, my friend Karen Miller, a wonderful writer and former bookstore owner, who I first met when I lived in Australia, hosts me for an interview on her blog. You can find the Q&A here.

The 2015 Summer-of-Two-Releases Virtual Tour starts back up again today much the way it finished last week. I have two posts going live this morning. The first is at ISmellSheep.com, and it includes a giveaway of a signed hardcover edition of Dead Man’s Reach, the fourth novel in my Thieftaker Chronicles. The post begins as a serious essay, but deteriorates quickly when I am interrupted by none other than Sephira Pryce, Ethan Kaille’s lovely nemesis in the Thieftaker novels. Read the post here.

The second post is up at Literary Escapism. This post (which I complete without interruption) is called “The Geek in Me,” and it is all about my inner geek and how my two releases this summer, Dead Man’s Reach and His Father’s Eyes, the second volume in The Case Files of Justis Fearsson, feed my geeky passions. You can find the post here.

And Harry Connolly, author of Child of Fire and The Way Into Chaos, is hosting me for a post about the ways in which we writers define success. That’s a more complicated issue than some might imagine, in an industry that imposes its own definitions of what it means to succeed or fail. You can read the post here.

I hope you enjoy both the interview and the post, and I wish you all a wonderful weekend.

Later today, I will be hosting a launch party over at Bitten-By-Books. We’ll be giving away a $40 Amazon.com gift card, and you can increase your chances of winning by RSVPing for the event using this URL: http://bit.ly/1IcDeMm